With the next two days off work I was expecting to do some house-hunting but in the event was disappointed. I had been working with Cindy to obtain a mortgage but she went on vacation on Monday 17 April and her manager took over her files. He spotted that my credit history was not the required duration and therefore I would not be able to close on a property until August 17. The following day I sent a complaint to the manager that Cindy had urged me to cash in a UK bond with $1700 penalty. If I had waited until Aug 6 there would have been no penalty. The manager got back to me and offered a low interest rate for the first year to recoup my losses and a further cheque for me trouble. So there was little point in returning to the property market until July.

This gave me some real relaxation time which I genuinely needed. I went into work on Thursday to prepare for the weekend which would also be a long one. The following day was officially a day off but I had a midday funeral and a late afternoon wedding so I ended up working a bit in between. On the Saturday I went in early to get the song sheets prepared for the remainder of the School Masses. Then I had a further wedding and the usual Vigil Mass.

On Sunday I went in earlier than usual and stayed later as after the 1230 ‘Divine Mercy’ Mass there was a Holy Hour for which i had been asked to play. In addition to the three hymns I improvised quite a bit under spoken prayers and as I left at 3pm the Deacon chased after me to thank me. It’s great when you are appreciated!

I was back in the evening for the 7pm Mass then adjourned to the Bar! During the night I managed to chip one of my newly crowned front teeth and so Monday began with a trip to the dentist!

Monday should have been a day off but I awoke worried about how much work I needed to get done and so I went into work and decided to take Thursday off instead. I managed to get so much work done on the Monday … preparations for the First Communions on May 13 as well as the next weekend’s music. I also learned that my green card application is advancing and was able to submit the evidence that was requested. I hope it will not be too long before I am legal again! On the way home I stopped at Goodwill and bought a ‘driverless’ vacuum cleaner for $30! The battery would probably cost me as much!

I didn’t need to cook anything as it had been a good day for ‘work’ food. In fact after Saturday’s wedding enough chicken was left in the cold room for a decent meal that sorted Sunday. On Sunday night some food prepared for a Youth party was left for staff so that sorted Monday. On Tuesday some smaller sandwiches were left for staff and that kept the wolf from the door then. This is one of the perks of work here at St Lawrence.

On Tuesday I also went in early to prepare for the first Liturgical Music rehearsal with the school. I wrote a new psalm which went down well. Then I was in the office for a while producing scores of my New Wine Mass which I hoped to send to GIA for possible publication along with some other pieces. At midday I rehearsed with School Cantors and then was back in the office to prepare material which a cover musician, Marty, would collect at 2pm.. Then we went for lunch to talk business and catch up after Easter.

I returned to the office until 6.30pm and then headed for the bar and then home to place an order for batteries for the vacuum cleaner. Such is the life of a domestic God!